Washington, D.C. — A new Defense Department website is connecting military children — whether it’s across town or across the world — who are dealing with a loved one’s deployment.

The website, MilitaryKidsConnect.org, offers military children an online community where they can learn about deployments, recognize and share feelings, and develop coping skills.
Psychologists from the DoD’s National Center for Telehealth and Technology developed the site to build on military children’s strength and resilience, especially as they deal with the unique stressors of military life.

“We felt by connecting military kids with each other, through providing peer-to-peer support, they’d be able to build on the resilience they have already and learn new coping skills to deal with deployments,” explained Kelly Blasko, a psychologist from the center, dubbed T2.

The site features tools for all stages of the deployment cycle — from predeployment through reintegration.

To help prepare children for an impending separation, the site includes an interactive map that offers information on numerous deployment locations. The aim here is to “give them positive information, rather than the negative information they hear on the phone or on the news,” Blasko said.